Ok, forget the champagne kisses just give me the ceviche dreams. You might say I have a slight obsession that I have developed since moving to the Mexican Caribbean. Shrimp ceviche. I eat it far too many times in one week for it to be healthy. When I go to a restaurant and see shrimp ceviche on the menu, I order it. Sometimes I am delighted, more often than not, I am disappointed. I find that restaurants here are lazy with their ceviche. A pile of chopped tomatoes with a few shrimp tossed on top does not constitute ceviche, in my opinion. I want flavor, without having to load it up with salsas. I want nicely prepared veggies chopped up perfectly so I can fit everything on my totopo (tortilla chip). Then, when I do want to add salsa, I want to give the ceviche a kick that it doesn´t have on its own. Now, I haven´t had every ceviche in every restaurant in the region but I’m pretty close. Lucky for me, I work upstairs from the best ceviche I have had.
Embarcadero 18 is a little out of the way but not so out of the way that you can’t easily get there. It is worth the walk, the bike ride, or the cab ride. They are located in Plaza Paseo Coba which is easy to get to. Walk south (beach will be to your left) on 10th Avenue until you get to the end (in front of you is the entrance to Playacar), take a right and walk up the sidewalk to the first plaza on the left. Embarcadero 18 is on the ground floor towards the back of the plaza. Ernesto, the owner, is a young guy from Mazatlan and speaks flawless English. And before you ask, Ernesto didn’t pay me to say any of this. He doesn’t even know I am writing it. I hope some of you take my advice and check this place out. His staff is amazing, always super friendly, and they have a menu that is sure to meet any seafood lover´s needs. Their appetizers include sashimi, empanadas (shrimp, octopus or fish), and tostados. They have aguachiles, a variety of seafood cocktails, fish fillets, and of course, tacos. Most importantly, for me anyway, they have ceviche. In my case it’s the mango shrimp ceviche, but some of you may want to try their tuna ceviche or their ceviche brother which includes shrimp, octopus, and scallops.
I know, I know. My friends tell me all the time I need to expand my horizons. I get hooked on things. A particular band (U2), a particular drink (Dos XX Ambar), and now it´s shrimp ceviche. I’m just happy that Ernesto and his team from Embarcadero 18 are there to fulfill my ceviche dreams
